Issue #8: Africa’s Weekly Startup Review

In this week’s episode of Africa’s Weekly Startup Review, we recorded more updates on the African startup ecosystem. If you missed it, here are the highlights:

Jabu raised $15M Series A
Sylndr raised a $12M pre-seed fund (This is now the largest pre-seed round in SSA and MENA)
AMP Global Technologies raised a $5.6m seed round to expand its play-to-earn offerings
Uber hits 1 Billion rides in Africa

Fundraising

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JABU, a Namibian B2B e-commerce startup that powers the supply chain, last-mile & payments of retail stores in Africa, raised a $15m Series A funding round led by Tiger Global. Other investors that participated in the round include Box Group, Knollwood, D Global Ventures, Afore Capital, Oldslip and FJ Labs.

Throwback: JABU raised a $3.2 million seed fund in January

Sylndr, an Egyptian automotive e-commerce marketplace bringing innovation to the used-cars market, where customers can reliably and transparently sell and buy used cars, raised a $12m pre-seed funding round led by RAED Ventures. Other investors that participated in the round include Algebra Ventures, Nuwa Capital, 1984 Ventures and Global Founders Capital.

AMP Global Technologies, a blockchain-based video entertainment platform, has raised a $5.6 million seed round. MaC Venture Capital provided $2 million for the investment round, other VCs provided $600,000, while the remaining money was raised from friends, family and angel investors.

FoondaMate, a South African ed-tech startup building chat-first learning products (using WhatsApp and Facebook Messager) for high school students in emerging markets with limited internet access, raised a $2 million seed funding round led by LocalGlobe. Other investors that participated in the round include Emerge Education, Odunayo Eweniyi via FirstCheckAfrica, Iyin Aboyeji via Future Africa, and LoftyInc, alongside angels from Luno (Marcus Swanepoel) and Justworks (Isaac Oates).

Esaal, an Egyptian health and wellness platform, raised a $1.7 million seed round from A15. The company is the most prominent wellness online consultancy platform in the MENA region, connecting users to certified experts through video calls and chatting based consultations in physical and mental wellness fields like medical, psychiatry, fitness, diet and nutrition.

Cloudfret, a Moroccan transport and logistics startup that connects loaders to transporters, raised a $1 million funding round from Plug and Play, PRC Ventures ICAV, Azur Innovation Fund, AfriMobility, and angel investor Khalid Zitouni.

Natrify, an Egyptian biotech startup that offers a sustainable and biodegradable alternative to single-use plastic, raised a six-figure pre-seed round from Ambo ventures.

Gooo Delivery, an Egyptian on-demand delivery startup that aims to deliver anything anywhere possible and affordable, raised an undisclosed pre-seed round.

Blink Pharma, a Moroccan healthtech startup that provides a B2B marketplace for pharmacists, laboratories and wholesalers to exchange orders, and offers them a payment method, raised an undisclosed amount in its first funding round from Azur Innovation Fund.

Acquisitions

Tactful AI, a UK and Egypt based startup that provides a cutting-edge intelligent customer experience platform, has been acquired by Dstny for an undisclosed amount. Dstny is a Belgium-based business communications provider.